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Waterlogged Lawn
pauarmst
Posts: 3
Hi, This has probably been asked 1000 times ok here but how do you prevent your lawn for waterlogging? It's a new build house and the lawn was only put down last spring. Certain areas are absolutely sodden. We've had no rain up here fo a few days and it's still like a bog. Any help appreciated
0
Posts
I think I should write a crib sheet for this question as you're right it's constantly a question on here. You may well have either clay soil or compaction. Neither is quick to sort out. I'd lift the grass and have a look, try and get a fork into the soil. You'll find it hard to get very far if it's compacted and clay be will wet and claggy. If it's compaction you need to lift the turf and break up the soil underneath, removing builders rubbish as you go. Then you can add well rotted manure and think about laying the turf or seed it. If it's clay dig a hole, a spades depth and see if water collects and how long it takes to drain. The longer it takes the worse the problem. If it's clay there's little long term solution other than to take everything off and dig it adding maure and as much grit as you can which will slowly improve the drainage. If you have seriously poor drainage the best option is land drains.
Sorry I can't provide an easy answer.
It's a nightmare that unfortunately some of us have to live with. I've heard that planting a fair sized tree would help soak up the moisture on a boggy clay lawn... this I plan to do one day !
It is worth asking: have you been walking over the grass all winter? Often even when you have a good lawn trampling across it (my dog is the worst for this) in the wet and frost can cause issues come spring time and everything has been compacted.
New build - bad lawn. Unfortunately, as Dave says, it's such a common issue. Builders have a habit of dumping everything and covering it up. The soil underneath is already solid from a thousand heavy boots trampling it, and they just chuck some turf on top. It's not an easy fix, but it's worth trying Dave's suggestion, even if it's just a small area to start with, and see if it makes a difference. If so, then you'll have to bite the bullet and do the whole space. Otherwise, it will always be poor.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Be prepared to remove lots of rubble. They do not dump rubbish in gardens anymore but they leave a lot of bits of tile, brick, concrete that I would not be able to distinguish from builders rubbish.
We have poor drainage as well but I have accepted for our tiny patch its not really worth the work. Just picking the right pants for the boggy bits. Ours is very heavy clay. There used to be a clay pit & brick factory down the road.